The Repuplican Experiment

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THE REPUBLICAN EXPERIMENT

America: Past and Present

Chapter 6

Defining Republican Culture

  • Post-Revolutionary Divisions

balancing individual liberty with social order

balancing property rights with equality

  • Varying answers result in varying Revolutionary governments

2

Living in the Shadow of Revolution

  • Revolution introduced unintended changes into American society
  • Hierarchical social relations challenged
  • Fundamental questions raised about the meaning of equality

Social and Political Reform

  • Changes in laws of inheritance
  • More liberal voting qualifications
  • Better representation for frontier settlers
  • Separation of church and state

3

African Americans
in the New Republic

  • African Americans embrace Declaration’s stress on natural rights
  • Demand right to freedom in petitions, suits
  • Northern states gradually abolish slavery
  • Southerners debate abolition

some privately free slaves

economic motives overcome republican ideals

4

The Challenge of Women's Rights

  • Women demand the natural right of equality
  • Contribute to new society through “Republican Motherhood”
  • Women more assertive in divorce, economic life
  • Denied political and legal rights

5

Postponing Full Liberty

  • Revolution limited in extension of rights
  • Introduced ideal of freedom and equality
  • Future generations would make these ideals reality

6

The States: Experiments in Republicanism

  • The people demand written constitutions

provide clear definition of rights

describe clear limits of government

  • Revolutionary state constitutions serve as experiments in republican government
  • Insights gleaned from state experiences later applied to constructing central government

7

Blueprints for State Government

  • State constitution writers insist on preparing written documents
  • Precedents in colonial charters, church covenants
  • Major break with England’s unwritten constitution

Natural Rights and the State Constitutions

  • State constitutions guarantee cardinal rights

freedom of religion

freedom of speech

freedom of the press

private property

  • Governors weakened
  • Elected assemblies given most power

8

Power to the People

  • Procedure for adoption of Constitution pioneered by Massachusetts

Constitution written by a special convention

ratification by referendum of the people

  • State constitutions seen as flawed experiments
  • Growing sentiment for stronger central government

9

Stumbling Toward a New National Government

  • War for independence requires coordination among states
  • Central government first created to meet wartime need for coordination

10

Articles of Confederation

  • John Dickinson’s plan for central government

proposed cession of West to Congress opposed

proposed equality in state representation opposed

  • Articles of Confederation severely limit central government’s authority over states
  • States suspicious of Articles

11

Western Land:
Key to the First Constitution

  • Maryland ratification of Articles delayed for Virginia’s renunciation of Western claims
  • 1781--Virginia takes lead in ceding Western claims to Congress
  • Other states cede claims to Congress
  • Congress gains ownership of all land west of Appalachians

12

Western Land Claims Ceded by the States

Northwest Ordinance: The Confederation's Major Achievement

  • Creates 3-5 new territories in Northwest
  • Population of 5,000 may elect Assembly
  • Population of 60,000 may petition for statehood
  • Bill of Rights provided
  • Slavery outlawed

13

Northwest Territory

Land Ordinance of 1785

13

Strengthening Federal Authority

  • Inadequate authority over interstate affairs
  • Inadequate influence on national economy
  • Weak foreign policy

14

The Nationalist Critique

  • Congress unable to address inflation, debt
  • Congress has no power to tax
  • Failure to pay soldiers sparks “Newburgh Conspiracy” (squelched by Washington)
  • Failure of reform prompts Nationalists to consider Articles hopelessly defective

15

Diplomatic Humiliation

  • England keep troops on U.S. soil after 1783
  • Spain closes New Orleans to American commerce in 1784

John Jay to negotiate reopening Mississippi

instead signs treaty favoring Northeast

West and South denounce, Congress rejects Jay-Gardoqui Treaty

16

“Have We Fought for This?”

  • By 1785 the country seemed adrift
  • Washington: “Was it with these expectations that we launched into a sea of trouble?”

The Genius of James Madison

  • Recognition by 1780s of shortcomings in small state republics
  • Stronger central government gains support
  • James Madison persuades Americans that large republics could be free and democratic

17

Constitutional Reform

  • May 1786--Annapolis Convention agrees to meet again, write a new constitution
  • Summer 1786--Shay’s Rebellion sparks fears of national dissolution
  • Crisis strengthens support for new central government

18

The Philadelphia Convention

  • Convenes May 1787
  • 55 delegates from all states except Rhode Island
  • Delegates possess wide practical experience

19

Inventing a Federal Republic: The Virginia Plan

  • Central government may veto all state acts
  • Bicameral legislature of state representatives
  • Larger states have more representatives
  • Chief executive appointed by Congress
  • Small states object to large-state dominance

20

Inventing a Federal Republic: The New Jersey Plan

  • Congress given greater taxing powers
  • Each state would have one vote in a unicameral legislature
  • Articles of Confederation otherwise untouched

21

Compromise Saves the Convention

  • Each state given two delegates in the Senate--a victory for the small states
  • House of Representatives based on population--a victory for the large states
  • Three-fifths of the slave population counted toward representation in the House

22

Compromising with Slavery

  • Issue of slavery threatens Convention’s unity

Northerners tend to be opposed

Southerners threaten to bolt if slavery weakened

  • Slave trade permitted to continue to 1808

“Great as the evil is, a dismemberment of the Union would be worse.” --James Madison

23

The Last Details

  • July 26—Committee of Detail formed to prepare rough draft
  • Revisions to Executive

Electoral College ensures president will not be indebted to Congress

executive given a veto over legislation

executive may appoint judges

  • Decision that Bill of Rights unnecessary

We, the People

  • Convention seeks to bypass vested interests of state legislatures
  • Power of ratification to special state conventions
  • Constitution to go into effect on approval by nine state conventions
  • Phrase “We the People” makes Constitution a government of the people, not the states

24

Whose Constitution?
Struggle for Ratification

  • Supporters recognized the Constitution went beyond the Convention’s mandate
  • Document referred to states with no recommendation

Federalists

  • Supported the Constitution
  • Well-organized
  • Supported by most of the news media

26

Anti-Federalists

  • Opposed to the Constitution
  • Distrusted any government removed from direct control of the people
  • Suspected the new Constitution favored the rich and powerful

25

Progress of Ratification

  • Succeed in winning ratification in 11 states by June 1788
  • North Carolina ratifies November 1789
  • Rhode Island ratifies May 1790
  • Americans close ranks behind the Constitution

Ratification of the Constitution

Adding the Bill of Rights

  • The fruit of Anti-Federalist activism
  • Nationalists promise to add a bill of rights
  • First ten amendments added by December 1791

27

Success Depends on the People

  • Some Americans complained that the new government had a great potential for despotism
  • Others were more optimistic and say it as a great beginning for the new nation

28